


lovesick

by hannie2kay



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-25 11:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30088608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannie2kay/pseuds/hannie2kay
Summary: you and charlie are absolutely in love with each other. the problem is, both of you are too afraid to admit it.
Relationships: Charlie Kelly/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

10:00 PM  
On a Tuesday  
Philadelphia, PA

You weren't the type of person to fall in love so quickly with anyone. Your heart had been broken by your ex-fiance, who had cheated on you just a month before the wedding.

Love just wasn’t for you.

That was, until you met Charlie. He was different than the other scumbag Philadelphia boys you were on and off with. Charlie was kind and genuine, which was something you weren’t used to. He made you laugh until your abdomen was sore and tears streamed down your face. Even his messy appearance featuring dirty black sneakers and tattered green jacket somehow managed to infatuate you. 

You secretly loved him. It hurt, though, because you believed he would never love you back.

But you were wrong.

Charlie Kelly might have been illiterate and his IQ wasn’t the highest, but if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that he was in love with you. He loved the way you treated him unlike the other members of the gang. He loved that you trusted him enough to talk about your traumas and insecurities over lukewarm beer and cheap cigarettes. He loved the way your eyes sparkled in any kind of lighting and the way your glossed lips always formed a dazzling smile. He even loved that you never judged him for his scams and piss poor decisions. 

The thing was, he didn’t think you could ever love him back. Why would you? After chasing the waitress for so long, he lost all confidence of someone having mutual feelings. You were just a friend- a close friend who probably did everything with him out of pity. He knew he was stupid and illiterate and had the tendency to fall too hard.

He wanted to tell you how he felt, and you longed to do the same. You both wanted nothing more than to feel each other’s lips. Neither of you had the courage to do it, though. Not even if you were both drunk. The fear of rejection coursed through both of your veins. Besides, your friendship would come to an awkward stop. You wouldn't be able to show your face at the bar, and he would be on his own again.

Tonight, though, you both sat in a booth at the back of the bar. Witty conversations flowed naturally over shots of cinnamon whiskey. 

Neither of you would admit to each other the butterflies in both of your stomachs. Not even drunk.


	2. hurting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's been a painful six months giving up on charlie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a part 2 was requested, so why the heck not hehe! i've decided this will be a 3 part series.

2:00 am

On a Wednesday

Philadelphia, PA

Six months had passed.

After weeks and weeks of pining, you gave up on Charlie. You believed that if he felt the same way you did, he would have already made a move. He wasn’t the type of guy who would be shy about something like this- especially like he did with the Waitress. Almost everyone in the city knew how he constantly professed his love for her. And if he truly loved you like you loved him, the same thing would’ve happened. 

You didn’t stay late after the bar closed to share beers and chain smoke with Charlie anymore. You stopped your flirting and giving him small acts of affection. You stopped the chase completely. The worst part was, it didn’t even seem as if he cared.

But that wasn’t the case.

Charlie noticed that you didn’t act the same around him. Just as he started to get the courage to finally ask you out, it seemed as if you started to hate him. It destroyed his heart for days and nothing could heal him… Not even alley cats or huffing glue in the basement. 

He was hurting- maybe even more than you were. 

* * *

It wasn’t until you had to stay late after last call to close out the register and lock up you were finally alone with him again. There was an odd tension in the air that consumed the both of you and was beyond hard to ignore.

After finishing your task, you sauntered over to the spot where Charlie was mopping the floor.

“Can we please chat real quick?” you asked softly, breaking Charlie away from his concentrated thoughts. Your heart was racing at the thought of what you were about to say. It was something that could more than definitely ruin your friendship with him for the rest of your days.

Charlie nodded, carelessly dropping the dirty mop to the floor. The two of you slid into a booth, feeling the nostalgia of other late nights spent together. Tears prickled at your lower eyelids. This was going to be harder than you thought.


End file.
